Our
girl on the train, main character Rachel, commutes to London and back
each day. She wanders aimlessly living on her alimony as she lost her
job over a year ago. There's really nothing likeable about her and
yet she is the main character from which our story evolves from.
It's
unfortunate that the author didn't explore Rachel's voyeuristic
yearnings further down the tracks, because as it turns out the story
involves her ex-husband, his new wife and their nanny and the story
really stays in her old neighborhood.
Our
Rachel is an overweight self loathing alcoholic that frequently
blacks out. Her memory is completely unreliable.
On
her daily travels Rachel observes a couple that she imagines to be
blissfully happy day after day. She even gives them imaginary happy
names. The story takes off after one day in particular when she sees
the woman in the embrace of another man. She is so upset she
literally loses control of herself and seeks to disembark the train.
She wants to confront this woman...wondering why are you doing this?
All
is not what it seems, and she soon finds herself embroiled in a
missing person/ murder mystery investigation.
The
story unfolds largely in three narratives, with Rachel as our primary protagonist. This bleak tale, told with intersecting timelines from
the viewpoint of three different women Rachel, Anne and Megan show us
that all the women are unreliable narrators, each with something to
hide.
In
fact, the characters in this novel, are all selfish, self-serving and
unsympathetic, and lacking most of all the depth that might make them
more memorable.
The
book has been a best seller for some time and is very good and
readable. You can probably read it in a day or two. It is good in the
sense that if and when you start reading it, you won't really want to
put it down. I thought there were some very good lines in the book,
but I thought some of the scenic character transitions were rather
awkward. I still give a thumbs up and will be looking forward to
Paula Hawkins new book out in May.
You
can expect this to remain a top seller for some time to come.
P.S.
Ignore the movie version...it's all wrong and absolutely dreadful.
I get a feel for this book from this review and I think I might want to read it! Maybe I will even see the movie, though it may not be as good. ;)--TennesseeatHeart
ReplyDeleteThe book is worth reading or maybe even listening to with the audio version, but I thought the movie was awful. I'm not sure why they changed the locations from London in the book to New York in the movie, it was a mistake, and Emily Blunt is definitely not the Rachel of the book.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting and hope you find the book enjoyable.